


How You Get The Boy

by DoreyG



Category: His Dark Materials (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Character will follow the object of their pining into danger or towards certain death, M/M, pining after years of friendship, pining character A finally makes a move after B almost died
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-30
Updated: 2020-08-30
Packaged: 2021-03-06 14:20:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,439
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26190301
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DoreyG/pseuds/DoreyG
Summary: “Lee!” He’s not expecting to be immediately noticed, he never thought himself that special truth be told, but apparently he’s stands out a fair bit at current point. Iorek is at his side in an instant, looking over his aching body with decidedly worried eyes. “How are you feeling, my friend?”
Relationships: Iorek Byrnison/Lee Scoresby
Comments: 6
Kudos: 31
Collections: pine4pine 2020





	How You Get The Boy

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Nununununu](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nununununu/gifts).



> This uses a few elements from book canon.

The edges of his wounds still pull, and Hester is still decidedly sluggish at his side, but today is the first day he’s felt capable of more than lying flat on his back in bed and he’s determined to make the most of it. He staggers out of his room, has to lean against the wall outside for a long few moments afterwards as he catches his breath.

“Lee!” He’s not expecting to be immediately noticed, he never thought himself that special truth be told, but apparently he’s stands out a fair bit at current point. Iorek is at his side in an instant, looking over his aching body with decidedly worried eyes. “How are you feeling, my friend?”

“Better than I have been, but also worse than I have been.” He wheezes, and feels a feeble kick from Hester at his flippancy. “Which is to say: entirely neutral, all things considered. How about you?”

“Slightly better, for seeing you alive and getting closer to well,” Iorek says solemnly, and watches him with those concerned eyes for a moment more before gently sliding his bulk underneath his arm and helping to prop him up. “You really should still be resting despite that, my friend. The extent of your injuries…”

“I know, I know,” he grumbles, and accepts Iorek’s help reluctantly but with a certain sense of relief. “But I _can’t_ stay in there a moment longer. I’m not meant for lounging around like some Oxford scholar, Iorek. I spend one more second in that room, twiddling my thumbs, and I’m likely to go mad.”

“Understood,” Iorek says, sounding mildly amused despite himself. “But it is for your own good. You were close to death when we found you, and you still are not as far away from that state as any of us would like. The only way to fully return to your old self is rest.”

“A few minutes taking the air won’t kill me, will it?” He wheedles, slightly surprised by how desperate he feels. “Just a second or two, to feel the breeze in my hair. C’mon, Iorek, we can make it.”

“Lee…”

“We promise we won’t ask this of you again,” Hester puts in, her usually robust voice still weak and reedy. “Or anybody, for that matter. If you let us up we’ll hold onto you all the time, and when you tell us to go back we’ll go instantly and be good the rest of the trip.”

“Even if I tell you to go back in right now?” Iorek asks wryly, and huffs a laugh as they both immediately make heartfelt noises of protest. “Ten minutes cannot hurt, I suppose. As long as you agree to let me carry you all the way.”

“Help me walk?” He tries, hopefully.

“ _Carry you_ , old friend,” Iorek looks at him firmly, in a way that would probably have any other human shaking in their boots and blubbering for mercy. “The skills of the witches are very impressive, and I appreciate them greatly, but they cannot perform miracles. I will allow you to take the air, as you would in my place, but I will not allow you to permanently damage yourself. It is a fair bargain.”

He and Hester exchange glances, and agree with a mutual sigh. Hester is the first one to speak, with a rustle of her ears that almost equals how full of life she is normally. “Thank you, Iorek.”

“Yeah, thanks,” he says, carefully keeping all and any whininess from his voice. Iorek is doing him a kindness, and he’s determined to be sensible of it. “An’ not just for very kindly allowing us a turn around the deck. Thank you for finding us out there. The situation would’ve gone a lot worse for both of us, if you hadn’t turned up when you did.”

“I know,” Iorek says, and there’s a certain bleakness to the set of the panserbjørn’s face that he’s never seen before. “But you do not need to thank me for such an act, I was only doing what came naturally.”

“Yeah,” he says slowly, slightly incredulously. “Which explains why a whole flotilla of folk turned up behind you, at your behest, and came to rescue me. You were totally just acting on instinct, and nothing but.”

“I did not mean that, I meant-” Iorek heaves a slightly annoyed sigh, for some reason seeming reluctant to meet his eyes. “I care about you, Lee. More than I’ve cared for any other human, or any other panserbjørn, in my entire lifetime. I was always going to come for you. I always will come for you, no matter what. It is as automatic to me as breathing.”

Oh.

 _Oh_.

He and Hester blink at exactly the same time, hard enough that they both feel a little woozy, and then glance at each other incredulously. After so many years of pining, so many years of seemingly fruitless longing, having everything they’ve ever wanted handed to them on a platter when they’re still suffering from the aftereffects of blood loss is quite the rush.

“I’m sorry,” Iorek says abruptly, still not meeting either his eyes or Hester’s. He’s never seen the guy look nervous before either, has always somewhat envied his cool under pressure to tell truth, but he certainly looks mighty on edge now. “I have overstepped, I am aware. Would you prefer to move now?”

“A second more,” he says, a tender feeling starting to unfurl in his chest.

“You don’t _need_ to apologise, Iorek,” Hester takes over, equally touched. There’s something special, about being able to make somebody so very strong show their vulnerability. “You don’t need to apologise at all. To tell truth… We’re more glad than we can say that you feel that way, because we feel exactly the same.”

“We’re always going to come for you too,” he says, and allows every inch of what he’s feeling to show in his words. The tenderness, and the joy, and the fierce hope suddenly blazing right back to life. “Through blue skies and raging storms, through hot sunshine and pelting rain, through the mildest spring and the coldest winter. In every single way and sense of the word, if you get my drift.”

Hester kicks him, for that, but that’s about the only pain he suffers. Iorek blinks at him for a long moment, seeming taken aback, and then subtly shifts closer in a way that sends his heart growing several sizes in his chest.

“That is… Very good to know,” Iorek says slowly, and tentatively nuzzles up against his side as if feeling out new boundaries as slowly as the rest of them. “For all of us, I would imagine.”

“Yes,” Hester says, and dares to hop sideways until she can rest her little head gently on top of one of Iorek’s big paws.

“Yes,” he whispers, equally undone by Iorek’s apparent willingness, and buries his fur in the thick white fur of Iorek’s back to hide the prickle of happy tears in his eyes.

There’s a long moment of silence between them, as they all absorb the new status quo and hold onto each other ever so tightly. Light snowflakes drift around them, he can feel warm fur against his cheek and a warmer body underneath it, he feels safer and happier than he has in a lifetime.

And then Iorek gives a low huff, again more amused than anything else, and scoops Hester up with one surprisingly dexterous paw. As he’s reeling from the sensation of that, of having his daemon _cradled_ in such a way, Iorek takes advantage of his distraction and gently knocks sideways into his unsteady legs. The result being that his soul is literally in Iorek’s hands, as he sprawls in an ungainly manner on Iorek’s broad back.

“Iorek-!” He and Hester splutter together, trying to sound outraged and utterly failing.

“I promised you ten minutes in the breeze, did I not?” Iorek asks, amusement colouring his tone so clearly that even if he was actually pissed - which he most certainly isn’t - his entire heart would soften and turn to happy goo. “We can discuss all other matters, as pleasant as they are, later. Perhaps when you are safely on your back again.”

He laughs at that, even as Hester makes a mock insulted noise and swats at Iorek’s paw, and lapses down into soft white fur happily. It’s but the work of a moment for Iorek to gently toss Hester up, to be caught safely in his arms, and then they’re off again. To another great adventure, this time firmly together.


End file.
